Nearly half of the news stories I read cited the corruption and abuse scandals as the primary reasons for his resignation.

Do you mean they cited a direct source or are you using "cite" to mean they simply referred to the scandal?

It was speculation of course becuase they weren't buying the old age excuse. Pope's are elected for life. They die in office so to speak. The concept of a living ex Pope is throwing the Church into a tizzy.

I'm sure the countless, worldwide child abuse scandals took their toll on his health and well-being. His personal aide releasing papers pointing to improprieties and corruption with the Vatican's business dealings was another blow to the Papacy. It took a truly forgiving man to pardon his butler from an 18 month prison sentence for stealing those scandalous docs.

Let the politics of finding his succesor begin.

You're sure??? How are you "sure"??? What proof do you have? The man is 85 years old and failing health is sometimes just a natural thing at that age. You libs sure love to put a spin on everything!

Amazing. Kind of shocked coming from Mr M. I've heard that this Pope did more than any other on the issue of child molestation in the Church! Seems reasonable to me that someone retires at 85.....I think its a good choice, he gives the Church time to find his replacement rathr than the usual hurry up when one dies.

Why amazed and shocked? Nearly half of the news stories I read cited the corruption and abuse scandals as the primary reasons for his resignation.

C'mon 61, I thought you were a lot like me , not believing half of what I read in those rags and very skeptical of the other half. The scandals come with the territory of being Pope. If it's not that scandal it's many other factors or scandals that a Pope has on his plate. Every individual has different tolerances and possibly it did contribute to failing health, but I doubt it was a major factor. Haven't we seen many presidential scandals and they didn't cause failing health? ie Clinton, Nixon... The reason was they weren't 85 years old.

I just thougt the argument was very plausible. It hasn't happened in 600 years so you have to wonder why this Pope decided he had had enough. When you are elected Pope it is just assumed you will die as Pope, no matter how ill you become. Its difficult for me to explain I guess. A Pope doesn't go back to being a civilian once he is chosen to be the spiritual leader of his people. As one Roman citizen commented: "There is only one God, there is only one Pope."